Before going into acupuncture, I was an orchestra conductor. I worked with professionals, young people, and college/community orchestras in the Baltimore area for six years. When I decided to go to acupuncture school in 1986, I discontinued my musical activities. I moved this past fall, and I met someone who rekindled my musical interest. I then put together a White Brotherhood "Musical Assistance Team" and worked in coning with the Overlighting Deva of Music. This has been a phenomenal experience. I have started playing the oboe again. I have a few piano students and for a while I helped the soprano section of a chamber choir. This has lead to a whole new arena of co-creative activity.

My musical coning experiences have taught me some important things about working in conings. First, it is crucial to ask for specific help. Just being in a coning will be helpful, but the results are much better when there is a clear request for help. Let me five you a few examples related to playing the oboe. This was my principal instrument before I became a conductor, but I hadn't played in about fourteen years. I worked in a coning from the start. Early on, I noticed my oboe was not working properly. While in a coning, I kept trying to locate the problem without success. Finally, it occurred to me to ask my team. Within minutes, I noticed things and did adjustments I had never done before. The end result was that my oboe was fixed easily and quickly right then and there.

Another dramatic example occurred when I was preparing for a public recital. It was a big success, although it was the hardest program I had ever performed. I included a couple of baroque works that involved ornamentation. This refers to decorative notes the player is expected to add to fill out the piece. The music is never played as written. I struggled with this with unsatisfactory results in several practice sessions. Then it occurred to me to ask my team for help with ornamentation. The results were astounding! Ideas flowed freely and easily, so that I could pick and choose from numerous beautiful and stylistically appropriate possibilities. My accompanist was very impressed when he heard them, and it made a real difference to the performance.

I've used my team to get help with oboe reed-making, which I had previously done poorly. This limited my advancement. Reed-making involves very fine carpentry, and is an art in itself. Now my reed-making is better than it has ever been.

The other important thing I learned about conings is that it is helpful to include appropriate additional devas and/or White Brotherhood members to focus on a particular activity. Machaelle addresses this well in the second edition of MAP--and I appreciate it all the more as the result of my own learning experience. When I was singing in a local chamber choir, I only used the Overlighting Deva of Music, Pan, my White Brotherhood Musical Assistance Team, and my higher self. Finally I also included the deva of the particular chamber choir. That cleared up strained situations I'd created in the group. While it is not good to overload a coning, neither is it good to "underload."

As a result, I am working better in all my conings. When I'm teaching piano I include the Deva of Piano Teaching. This has led to better lessons. I use muscle-testing ahead of time if I am considering new repertoire to give a student.

When I accompanied some local flute students at a public concert, I worked with the Deva of Accompanying Flutists (in addition to the Overlighting Deva of Music). I also asked that any additional White Brotherhood members for this activity join the coning. There were some real miracles as a result. I was nervous. Some of the music was hard for me, I hadn't had a piano to practice on, and the flutists in question had no sense of rythm. There was only one run-through--not enough time to teach the payers how to count.

For the concert, I worked in a coning and was able to jump ahead and slow up quite well, covering up many of the inadequacies of the students. At the climax of my hardest "solo" bit, I was lost in a nervous fog. I'd forgotten to take my Emergency Trauma Solution before the performance. I came down on notes that I was sure were wrong, but the proper chord sounded. I looked at my hands in disbelief. My baby finger was on the wrong note, but somehow that one note did not sound. Amazing!

Over the winter, when I was starting to get involved in music, I was confused. I didn't know if I was supposed to shift emphasis away from health care and into music, or what. I talked to my MAP team about this. The synthesis that came from this was profound. I recognized that the musical work was important on many levels--it gave me a nonverbal venue of free expression in a restricted local community. The "aerobic" work of playing oboe was good for my health. The piano students gave me a financial cushion when I was most fearful about finances from my health care practice and my new mortgage. My musical participation (who may someday be clients in my health care practice) get to know and respect me. It also gave me a "safe" arena of co-creative work where I wasn't limited by fears of life-and-death responsibility.

Much later it also dawned on me that my direct participation in the world of vibration/music was no small responsibility. However, I have no way of estimating the importance of this. My limited understanding comes from descriptions of devas singing in a book I read. So what I first assumed to be a beneficial and enjoyable activity is now taking on more depth. And it blends harmoniously with my health care practice in every way.

I found "Nature's Definition of a Garden" and the tips for integrating the Workbook processes into other activities most helpful. For the Energy Cleansing Process and Battle Energy Release Process, I put the energies to be cleansed in an imaginary sphere in front of me. I did both processes on all aspects of my musical education, background and previous experience. I then balanced and stabilized my equipment in these areas.